Communications

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All records responsive to the below requests dated from January 1, 2014 through July 28, 2016.- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Persistent Surveillance Systems" or "Vigilant Solutions"- Copies of all invoices to or from these companies, and documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds to either company- The full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the two cited above, in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- Copies of all invoices to or from any company that fits the description in the prior paragraph, and documents sufficient to show any disbursement of public funds to any company that fits this description- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com" or "vigilantsolutions.com". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com)- All paper-based communications between your department and Persistent Surveillance Systems, and between your department and Vigilant Solutions. In asking for all paper and electronic correspondence, this request necessarily includes marketing materials and descriptions of product capabilities for any device, software, or access/capability this department has purchased. A circuit court judge in Illinois recently ruled that non-disclosure agreements signed by public bodies do not trump freedom of information laws when it comes to surveillance equipment/capability purchased by police. Citation:http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/chicago-police-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/- Documents sufficient to show all rules or regulations governing the use of products (hardware or software) that do 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- The text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise) between your department and any other public body or department that allows your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of scanning license plates or accessing a database of scanned plates, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).- Documents sufficient to show the total number of license plates scanned in your department's jurisdiction (whether the jurisdiction in this case is precisely or roughly represented) since the department began its plate-scanning program or first purchased access to such a program- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of persistent aerial surveillance, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).- Documents sufficient to show the number of plane-hours of aerial surveillance (excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions) purchased by your department within the dates at the top of this request. For example, one plane flying for four hours is four plane-hours. Two planes flying for four hours is eight plane-hours.- Documents sufficient to show any attempt made by a representative of your department to inform the public about automatic license plate readers or persistent aerial surveillance. This could include but is not limited to records of town hall meetings, quotes from police spokespeople in local media, or text from the department's website.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Your request, received 08/01/2016, has been forwarded to me and is being treated as a request for records under the Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov't Code Ann. §552.001 et seq.). A letter regarding your request is now available. Please click on the link below to view the City's response.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 1, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #W042612-080216.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Please be advised that if you wish to check on the status of an already submitted request or submit a new request, you should visit the City of El Paso Public Information Center by clicking here. (http://home.elpasotexas.gov/open-records/records.php) Description: TO: [ElPaso@mycusthelp.net]August 18, 2016El Paso Police DepartmentEl Paso Police Dept. Records Division911N. Raynor St.El Paso, TX 79903This is a follow up to request number W042612-080216:To Whom It May Concern:I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 1, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #W042612-080216.Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 1, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #W042612-080216.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Please be advised that if you wish to check on the status of an already submitted request or submit a new request, you should visit the City of El Paso Public Information Center by clicking here. (http://home.elpasotexas.gov/open-records/records.php) Description: TO: [ElPaso@mycusthelp.net]September 2, 2016El Paso Police DepartmentEl Paso Police Dept. Records Division911N. Raynor St.El Paso, TX 79903This is a follow up to request number W042612-080216:To Whom It May Concern:I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 1, 2016. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #W042612-080216.Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Dear Brandon, We received your request for password assistance on 09/02/2016. Below is your temporary password. Please use it to access your account online at http://www.elpasotexas.gov/open-records/. When you access your account, please create a permanent password that only you can remember. (http://www.elpasotexas.gov/open-records/) Login: requests@muckrock.comPassword: 14870bfbda Thank you, City of El Paso This is an auto-generated email and has originated from an unmonitored email account. Please DO NOT REPLY.

Dear Brandon Smith, In regards to the Open Records Request received on 08/01/2016 requesting records, the records have been in "Requested Clarification" status for 61 days. The City of El Paso considers this request closed. If you would still like the records, please submit another Open Records Request. Thank you for using the Public Information Center. Request Details: Reference # W042612-080216 Description of Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:All records responsive to the below requests dated from January 1, 2014 through July 28, 2016.- The full documentation of all contracts or non-disclosure agreements (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with the companies "Persistent Surveillance Systems" or "Vigilant Solutions"- Copies of all invoices to or from these companies, and documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds to either company- The full documentation of all contracts (enacted OR IN EFFECT between the above dates) with any company other than the two cited above, in which said company provides your department with equipment or services (including software) for 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- Copies of all invoices to or from any company that fits the description in the prior paragraph, and documents sufficient to show any disbursement of public funds to any company that fits this description- All emails between police department email accounts and users on the domains "pss-1.com" or "vigilantsolutions.com". (One example would be brian.schockley@vigilantsolutions.com. Users on the domain would be in the form of XXXXXXXXX@vigilantsolutions.com)- All paper-based communications between your department and Persistent Surveillance Systems, and between your department and Vigilant Solutions. In asking for all paper and electronic correspondence, this request necessarily includes marketing materials and descriptions of product capabilities for any device, software, or access/capability this department has purchased. A circuit court judge in Illinois recently ruled that non-disclosure agreements signed by public bodies do not trump freedom of information laws when it comes to surveillance equipment/capability purchased by police. Citation:http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/chicago-police-must-finally-produce-stingray-records-judge-orders/- Documents sufficient to show all rules or regulations governing the use of products (hardware or software) that do 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- The text of all agreements (whether formal, email, memo, or otherwise) between your department and any other public body or department that allows your department to use or access the capabilities of 1. license plate scanning or reading or automatic photographing; 2. aerial surveillance, excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions.- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of scanning license plates or accessing a database of scanned plates, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).- Documents sufficient to show the total number of license plates scanned in your department's jurisdiction (whether the jurisdiction in this case is precisely or roughly represented) since the department began its plate-scanning program or first purchased access to such a program- Documents sufficient to show the month and year your department first entered a program of persistent aerial surveillance, if it indeed has such a program (and end date of said program if it has ended).- Documents sufficient to show the number of plane-hours of aerial surveillance (excluding monitoring roadways for speed infractions) purchased by your department within the dates at the top of this request. For example, one plane flying for four hours is four plane-hours. Two planes flying for four hours is eight plane-hours.- Documents sufficient to show any attempt made by a representative of your department to inform the public about automatic license plate readers or persistent aerial surveillance. This could include but is not limited to records of town hall meetings, quotes from police spokespeople in local media, or text from the department's website.The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.Sincerely,Brandon Smith To log into the Public Information Center, click here. (http://mygovhelp.info/elpaso/_cs/supporthome.aspx?sSessionID=)